Bitting Advice Edition Part 2

As part two of a three part series The Saddlery Shop takes a look at bitting and presents a Q & A featuring bitting enquiries and bespoke answers from bitting expert and owner of The Saddlery Shop, Lucy Nicholas. Question "I have a 4yo welsh cob mare who will be 5 in May. I have owned her for 18 months since she was backed. At first she had a rubber eggbutt snaffle but was inclined to chew off the rubber which I thought was going to make it uncomfortable for her. I started looking into sweet iron bits and have been trying a sweet iron copper roller D-ring snaffle. She doesn't seem any different in either bit. We have been lightly schooling and had a few hacks over the winter and we are hoping to build up in the summer to doing a couple of pleasure rides and maybe some fun dressage classes and jumping at home. I'd like to keep her in a fairly mild bit as for the moment she doesn't need anything stronger (touch wood!). I'd like some advice on what might be best for my pony rather than buying something standard for the sake of it. I was thinking she might be best off in a sweet iron snaffle with a lozenge? I'd like her to stay in a D-ring or eggbutt. Would be grateful for help, Thanks Aimee Marsh" Answer "It is important to have a good progressive schooling plan in place, ideally with the help of a good instructor, and keep taking it slowly as you are doing. Young horses will tend to get tired easily and thats when problems become apparent, so you sound like you are taking it nice and slowly as your horse is not objecting at the moment! The copper roller is actually a fairly harsh bit, so I wouldn't suggest that it is an ideal bit to use. A double jointed bit, with a lozenge and a sweet metal would be ideal. The sweet iron copper lozenge snaffle would be a good bit to try, the ideal being a Sprenger Dynamic as they are anatomically designed and are one of the nicest bits you can bit a youngster in. Steer away from anything too thick, and do consider a loose ring if you have steady hands- they are very nice for communication, but an eggbutt is better if you are worried you may send too many comflicting signals as they deaden the feeling to the horse. A D cheek bit is actually quite a strong cheek and if you don't need help with steering consider an eggbutt bit or a loose ring. Kind Regards, Lucy www.thesaddleryshop.co.uk"